After fitting I can usually avoid balancing more so with the latest tyres.

Has any one else noticed that tyres these days don't need much balancing, more the wheel itself (probably after dinks from pot holes)?

I'm using Asymmetric 2's now and my brother Hankook Evo ones (18's and low profile) and we have managed to avoid balancing for the last 8 tyre fittings... the wheels are balanced at ATS or wherever with a DIY fitted tyre but I've just left the weights on for the last few changes as has my brother... so I can only guess most of the weight is there for wheel balance and not tyre balance?!

Food for thought, but wondering if any one else has been as lucky, or perhaps modern tyres are really quite nicely balanced to start with!?

I fit and balance my own tyres. I have never had one which didn't require a wheel weight or two though! I agree that it is more the wheel you are balancing than the tyre these days, Alloys are big and heavy so what might be a minor manufacturing irregularity can end up needing a fair bit of weight to correct. In my experience small steel wheels are the best, might only need 30g or so.

I think as tyres wear down the balance might change subtly, but I've done the usual 50/60/70/80 cruise control intervals and not found any adverse wobbliness...

It does seem to be these very latest tyre designs though, my old F1 Asymmetric didn't work as well (but still pretty good) but the new Asym 2 and my brothers new Hankook's seem really good.

Do you think one of those wheel balancing tools that just prop the wheel by it's centre and see which side tips down might be any good for tiny adjustments... tempted to have a play and see how good you can get them with one of those

I'd like to pick up an old balancer any way, only thing that has put me off is the need to have them calibrated now and again, but I never looked at the costs of that side of things... I can expect as soon as you rely on some other 'business' then costs spiral.

I think as tyres wear down the balance might change subtly, but I've done the usual 50/60/70/80 cruise control intervals and not found any adverse wobbliness...

It does seem to be these very latest tyre designs though, my old F1 Asymmetric didn't work as well (but still pretty good) but the new Asym 2 and my brothers new Hankook's seem really good.

Do you think one of those wheel balancing tools that just prop the wheel by it's centre and see which side tips down might be any good for tiny adjustments... tempted to have a play and see how good you can get them with one of those

I'd like to pick up an old balancer any way, only thing that has put me off is the need to have them calibrated now and again, but I never looked at the costs of that side of things... I can expect as soon as you rely on some other 'business' then costs spiral.

Dave

A lot of wheel balancers have the capability to calibrate themselves. I bought an old second hand one that has a calibration function which involves a bare steel rim & a 100gram weight. If you buy a second hand machine I'd suggest making sure it can calibrate itself & make sure you get the operating manual that shows you how to do it.

Hi, I too change and balance my own tyres.I have a Land Rover 110 which runs 265/75/16 mud tyres.When I first got the tyres I had them balanced at a tyre fitters.Ended up with about 70g of lead per wheel and after a while the wheels would Go out of balance.So I came up with a cunning plan. I fit the tyres myself but rather than using external weights, I now use BB pellets within the tyre.I experience no vibration at all and for all four tyres it cost me £4I have been using them like this for 2 years.Hope this helps.

BB pellets-was ist das? The wheels on my 7.5t lorry are a bit out of balance - someone told me to put sand in them so I guess its the same principle.. Question is how much (and how to get it in without a bead breaker) any clues? Sorry for slight hijack..

The BB pellets are plastic spherical pellets used in kids BB guns.I fitted them by breaking bead using a spade and a crowbar, chucked 200grammes of BB pellets in the cavity, then refitted tyre to rim.If dynabead are an American product than that's where I got the idea from and got the recommended amount use from their website for my size of tyre.Just don't forget that the 200g per tyre is for 265/75/16 aggressive mud terrain tyres, these measure about 33 inches and needed 70 Grammes of conventional wheel weights per tyre.So if using this method on road tyres much less will be required.I paid £4 for 4000 pellets which probably weigh about 1kg in total.Hope this helps.Chris